ncace wrote:A short question for arodd13: a really strong student section has been missing the past couple of years. What should be done to reinvigorate student attendance at Aces home games? Strong, passionate student support WILL help win 2-3 close games on home court.

Winning and being relevant is almost the only way. We all had no problem showing up and filling student section and two sections behind when Wichita came to a solid Aces team 2 years ago

Being an exciting, fun to watch team that wins 20 games every year will solve a lot of attendance problems.

ncace wrote:A short question for arodd13: a really strong student section has been missing the past couple of years. What should be done to reinvigorate student attendance at Aces home games? Strong, passionate student support WILL help win 2-3 close games on home court.

Hey! This is the president of the newly formed Student Section Association at UE. We just were approved by the Center for Student Engagement at the end of this past March, so we’ve only been able to plan what we want to do with the student section, but by the time we had spitballed dozens of ideas with staff in the athletic department, finals week rolled around and we all went home for the summer.

That being said, we did get A LOT of planning and ideas out there. I’ve met with the athletic department’s Learfield contact and was able to bring him some of our ideas for revitalizing the student section. Last I heard, we were able to secure a shuttle to every home game to and from campus for students. Don’t quote me on that though, since not a lot of it has been set in stone.

We’ve also discussed moving the student entrance, getting a student rewards app for attendance at games and for sitting in the student section, more ways to advertise games and times to students (apparently a lot of them didn’t even know when games were, where our student section was, or the fact students even had a designated student section), and themed nights for home games (Hawaiian, toga, purple out, orange out). We’re focused on men’s basketball this year but hope to expand to men’s soccer and many other sports next year.

There’s a small group of us that are really passionate to seeing a student section succeed, since it’s been done time and time again since the original student section says at Roberts died out.

All that being said, after 200+ survey responses from students, one of the best ways to get students to the game is to have a winning team playing exciting basketball. So we’re hoping for exactly that this year.

I think having a substantial student presence should be a top priority. I sat near a few small groups of students last year and felt like going around and individually thanking them for being there. A shuttle from campus is a great idea. Have a few 'door prizes' passed out as an incentive. No question that a winning, exciting team is crucial, as is a coaching staff well liked by the student body. Let's make it happen!

Can confirm we can get a bus or shuttle to and from every game. Not a problem. Also, I think pushing athletics to freshmen during orientation would be solid. When I went through there was almost no mention of attending games and cheering for YOUR school.

Aceup13 wrote:Can confirm we can get a bus or shuttle to and from every game. Not a problem. Also, I think pushing athletics to freshmen during orientation would be solid. When I went through there was almost no mention of attending games and cheering for YOUR school.

We’ll have a table during the student engagement fair thing (whatever it’s called), and possibly speak on the athletic depaetment’s panel, but that’s up to them

ncace wrote:A short question for arodd13: a really strong student section has been missing the past couple of years. What should be done to reinvigorate student attendance at Aces home games? Strong, passionate student support WILL help win 2-3 close games on home court.

Winning and being relevant is almost the only way. We all had no problem showing up and filling student section and two sections behind when Wichita came to a solid Aces team 2 years ago

Being an exciting, fun to watch team that wins 20 games every year will solve a lot of attendance problems.

I'm not on the Student Section committee or anything, but as a student who has attended at least 90% of home games over the course of my time here, the biggest issue is the lack of awareness about games (which is a bad excuse in my opinion) and the perceived "boring-ness" of the on-court product. Students complain about games not being on campus as well, but the Ford Center is a 5 minute drive, which is less of a commute than many students have to make at bigger schools who might have a 20 minute walk across campus to the arena. Plus, the teams that do play on campus (outside of the occasional men's soccer game) don't get great student support either.

Another complaint is the actual set up for the student section at the Ford. It's not ideal, and personally, I much prefer to find an empty seat in the lower level and sit there with some friends, as it's just a better view. More students go to the games than you think, but it's hard to tell because everyone is spread out. I really hope that changes this year. I think something the Student Section Committee needs to do is target Greek Life, and make some kind of competition between fraternities/sororities and seeing who can get the most people at each game. I hate incentivizing things, but it definitely helps when trying to get people to do stuff.

That being said, there is a lot of excitement on campus with Walter. He is a big name who makes his presence KNOWN on campus. I see him on the south side of Walnut all the time, while I can't say I ever saw Marty outside of the Carson Center in my time as an undergrad. I think we'll see some improvements at games this year with a more exciting product on the court, and a coach who makes an effort to reach out to students and get them excited for games.

NumbersDontLie wrote:At one point in time, the NCAA only allowed off-season workouts in groups of 3 or less. The emphasis is on skill development and individual drills. If the whole team was there it would just be ‘practice’ and those are not allowed until the first day allowed, sometime in October.

After watching the video several times Zapruder-style, I think that is still in effect. At the start, it looks like KJ, Kuhlman, and maybe Deandre?? working out. Noah, Marty, and John are all sitting on the bench, because they are the next workout group.

My guess: Joe Downs shows up as workout group 1 was ending, gets some shots of KJ shooting, as well as doing the initial intro. Interviews Coach, Noah, Marty, and John prior to their workout group, then sticks around to get some more action shots.

DC is probably in another workout group (or maybe by himself) because his skill work/development is something completely different than everyone else.

Is it November yet?

DC was in a boot.

You can see him sitting on the sideline, in the workout footage. Click on the clips from the Coach's Caravan in Princeton. UE Athletics Dept FB page.